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The cleaning tips people give for rusty found tools drive me nuts
I keep seeing people say to soak rusty wrenches or hand tools in vinegar for days. Did that once with a nice old Crescent wrench I pulled from a curb in Austin, and it ate the chrome off in 12 hours. Now I just use a wire brush and WD-40, takes 5 minutes and keeps the original finish. Anyone else ruined something good by following bad advice from the internet?
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jackson.matthew3mo ago
Vinegar ruined a good knife of mine too, never again.
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kim.zara3mo ago
Vinegar ate the patina off my favorite old Craftsman socket set in one night.
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jana_scott3mo ago
Man, that hurts my soul just reading it. Patina on old Craftsman tools is like a badge of honor, shows they've actually been used and earned their keep. Vinegar is way too aggressive for anything with a nice aged finish, it strips everything down to bare metal without any mercy. I've seen guys ruin vintage tool boxes and old wrenches that way, just trying to clean them up a little bit. You basically turned years of honest character into something that looks like it just came off a store shelf. Tough lesson to learn, but at least now you know better for the next set.
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